This book is about meditation. Not the clear your mind, think zero thoughts kind of meditation. But a sit alone quietly with your thoughts style that the author call Ziva meditation.
Most of the book is explaining the range of benefits you could get from a regular meditation practice. The primary benefit being the one mentioned in the title, you become more productive with less mental stress.
I am not going to list out everything the author claims could be improved. But the list is rather long. The most interesting claim to me was that meditation improves the communication between the two halves of the brain. This would unlock creativity and some more clever problem solving. I need more of that in my life.
Another portion of the book is spent explaining why most people give up on meditation. They believe it is trying to completely empty your mind of thoughts. Most people get frustrated by their inability to empty their minds and give up, feeling like failures.
The author takes the position that the mind thinks automatically, like the heart pumps. The style of meditation she proposes is about letting your mind go to all the thoughts that are cluttering it up so that you can process them and clear them out. Most of us are walking around with unprocessed past trauma or stress that is affecting us in a variety of ways.
The basics of the meditation are this:
- Do some sort of routine to get you into the present moment. The author has a sensory exercise for this.
- Sit quietly with your eyes closed just letting your mind think, but occasionally bringing it back to a focus with a mantra word. This is done for 15 minutes.
- End your meditation with gratitude and a positive vision of the future.
- Repeat this whole thing twice a day
I picked up this book back in 2019 and liked the the meditation practice so much it has become a daily habit.
One of the warnings given in the book is that you might feel some strong emotions. Some people may even feel like quitting their job or crying at the very least. These responses are from confronting the past emotions that haven’t been dealt with. The author asks you to promise not to end any relationships or quit any jobs for the first two weeks.
While I did not have this strong of a response, I definitely had some old memories dredge up that were emotional in nature and that surprised me a bit. My personal recommendation is to add some journaling after your meditation, especially early on, to help process whatever emotions you dig up from your past.
Needless to say, your mileage with a meditation practice may vary. However if you do not already have a practice that works for you, try this one. Everyone could use a little clearer mind for decision making and less stress for living a kinder life.
Keep getting wiser, stronger, and better.
You can find more about the author, Emily Fletcher, at her website Ziva Meditation.